Backups for Enterprise---vSphere---New Apps and Technologies

[Jujo]

Hello All,

I've going to be building a large vSphere environment in the future and I've been reviewing the backup options out there. Vizioncore and Veeam appear to be on the verge of launching some new stuff. Vizioncore has this Backup 2.0 and Veeam will be releasing 5.0. I read the white paper from Vizioncore and they describe some very nice and very useful features. I imagine Veeam will have similar offerings. I'm also going to be looking at Symantec Backup Exec 2010.

Is anyone else waiting for these new apps before deciding on their virtual backup strategy?

Anyone have ideas as to when these new apps will be available?

Perhaps this thread could serve as a sounding board for those considering enterprise backup solutions as these new apps approach release. Or maybe I'm just an idiot.

I just read the thread about the problem with CBT. That might slow things down a bit...

[paulan]

Here is my opinion.

First, this CBT issue is not a big deal... it is easy to workaround for backup vendors, and it is pretty hard to run into in first place, unless you are willing to revert old snapshots on your production systems (thus causing major dataloss, I cannot imagine that many people out there are practicing this kind of thing). It's been almost a year since first CBT based solutions were released, and CBT is proven to be reliable. As for bugs - any software has them.

Don't be fooled by Backup 2.0 pitch from Vizioncore... don't get me wrong, this would be totally great campaign to run a few years ago to educate the market why image-level backups are better. But as of today, all major backup vendors already implement the features of "Backup 2.0" concept, some already for years. Vizioncore is really playing catchup here, their development is quite stalled past years, in fact they are the only major VMware backup vendor left without CBT support as of today. For comparison, Veeam was the first to add CBT support in October last year, and Symantec added CBT support just a couple of months later.

Both Symantec BackupExec 2010 and Veeam Backup are good choices, cannot go wrong with them. Also consider esXpress, it supports CBT since 4.0 release, and uses the same concept as VMware DR (based on virtual appliances). Not so user friendly, but very customizable. Frankly, all of these solutions can be considered Backup 2.0+, as they also implement additional features essential to image-level backups, such as deduplication.

If you are after innovations and new cool stuff, check out SureBackup thingy from Veeam. Looks too good to be true, if they manage to get it working in a reasonable way, I'd be very impressed.

Just my 2 cents.

[kac2]

Veeam is 2 steps ahead of the virtual backup game. esxPress was talking about how in september they are going to have support for backing up ESXi4. Well Veeam has had that for a while now. Veeam is innovative and has not only backup, but also replication built into their product. 2 for 1.

go to veeam.com and you can signup for a live webex demo or see if they will be at your next local VMUG.

[petedr]

I always suggest to people to try a number of the available solutions in your labs and see what works best for you. Everyone installation is different so only testing and evaluations as you indicated in your environment can determine truly what will work best for your needs.

www.phdvirtual.com, makers of esXpress

[Jujo]

-Yes, it seems the problem with CBT only applies if you have multiple snapshots on a VM. I never do that, so it's a non-issue for me.

-Most of the technology discussed in the Backup2.0 documentation from Vizioncore is already in place- in their own software! I don't know why they put that Backup2.0 stuff on their site. It's just confusing. They make it look like a new product- it's not.

- I'll check out the Veeam demo